Since there are so many new toys on the market and most of us still don't know what to buy for this year, it would be great to know what the guys ride in here and why they have choosen their gear.
Let us know what you had before and compare to your latest gear.
this way we can get many different opinions and reviews.

Pls also make sure you give us infos about your weight, kite sizes, your style, weather/water conditions, board size and type.
Same for boards.

To be fair to others it would be great to get an info if you are related to a company or are a teamrider of any brand. This way you still can compare to 2002 gear or whatever you had before.

Pls do not reply with any comments, I will delete them or move it to a new thread.
Only facts which you can edit if you have some changes or just got a new toy. Another advantage of posting registered! You can open a new topic if you have any comments or questions about something, otherwise this gets not as informative as wanted.
Just write @ and the username you have a question to.

Thx for your contribution!

Toby

Important:

thx for your participation.It would be great to get additional infos like what you had last year and where you see a difference to your new gear.Maybe this will help other people in here to decide what to buy for 2003.

It may take some minutes, just "edit" it and let us know more about the performance and differences.

Thx a lot!

see my quiver for 2003 a few postings below

Last edited by Toby on Mon Jul 18, 2005 9:04 am, edited 7 times in total.

i ride an underground given to me by Andre Phillip. Its ok but i am hoping to get a Sean Ordonez custome from Maui to replace the old beaten thing. I feel that the underground could have been better designed both in shape and construction.
had a 12 Rhino 2 and replaced it for a Cabrinha 2003 BT 12 then got BT 17 and 20. I love the stability of the North, its lofty controlled jumps, but hated how quickly you got jerked around when the wind picked up. I found its range was limited. The BTs are not as stable too look at but have the most amazing wind range and usually you have to take one kite to the beach, staying out all day with the same size no prob as the wind strength changes dramatically.
Use the powerlock bar with modified ring for my snap shackle. I love the bar. Always had trouble keeping the power in the kite while in the chicken loop doing jumps where you could only hold on with one hand. With power lock you just lock in as you take off and all the power stays "locked". Varials are so much easier now.
to slightly help my broken knee i use a DonJoy knee brace which is pretty good too. Pretty solid and it stays in place most of the time.
Have never found a good harness!!!!!
I am 185 lbs and today was maxed out with my BT 17 in super sunny warm conditions here in Antigua. I use bullfrog sunscreen whenever i have it as it takes dish washing liquid to get it off at the end of the day. all the other shit comes off too easily like that "all day waterproof 45" crap from H.Tropic. They suck! eli

Hi.
My brand is Cabrinha too, and I represent this make here on the island.
The 2003's are just the best IMO, as well as the boards, even though I use a lot of 2001 boards and not the later models.
I mess around a lot with self made custom boards, this is an old habit from my surfing days.
As harness I cherish a Cabrinha impact vest, it has saved me many a times from breaking my ribs and keeps me fairly warm and afloat.
Polarized Oakleys for the strong sunny sessions, and custom baggies from my sponsor Island Style.
Nico

At the moment flysurfer psycho 9.5, i hope some time in the near future a titan 12.5. For boards, i am using a http://www.loose.it HC 125 custom(very nice, planes very easy at my 80+kg). Want to get an XX 162 in the near future as well (http://www.loose.it). Using dakine fusion from 2002, still in great shape, use wichard 2673 and an airush impact vest which has saved my ribs many times. Will post pics of my HC 125 soon

I have two Naish AeroII 12 and 16. I weight 85kg and for most conditions here in Belgium those 2 kites are enough. I can hold the 16 from 15 till about 25knots. I think I can use the 12 from 22 till 35 knots. It's very unusual when wind get stronger here in Belgium (only in storms).
I have two boards: slingshot surf 157 (and have fins for it to ride mutant and TT) and a new custom made Radical board 140x38cm (http://www.radical.fr). That radical board is very fast, turns very good and it edges like hell!

I like flat water, so from time to time I go to the Netherlands for riding although it can get very choppy sometimes. But if the wind is good (SW - N - NE) I do prefer the Belgian Northsea coast. Waves (max 2m) and flat areas dependings on the tide.

My level is intermediate. I start to jump (with good wind 4-5m), do some tricks (fakie, backloop, 360,...) but from time to time I do slam hard on the water after a mistake (losing the edge, not controlling the speed,...)

2002:Last year I didn't have a big kite, since I didn't like any.
Quiver last year: X2 8-10-12-14
Board: X-Shooter 155+144

2003:This year I already made my mind up for a big kite: Rhino2 20.
Since they are sold out, I will get it in 2 weeks.
Great kite, starts early and the best thing is, that it handles very well for a 20 sqm kite. It jumps high and floats very long. Perfect for learning new tricks, since it is very stable in the air and I have a lot of time.
I can use it in 10-20 knts.

Now I made up my mind and choose out of Naish X3 14, AMP 10.3 (14.0) and Rhino2 14.0 the Rhino2.
Since I don't like too fast kites and need hangtime to do tricks, The Rhino2 is my first choice for this season.
Just had a good day with it and it jumps high as well and hangs really long.
If you prefer a faster kite, then the AMP or X3 is your choice.

For a smaller sized kite I will keep my X2 8.0 at the moment, since I prefer to ride with bigger kites, so I don't concentrate on these sizes yet.

Since last year I use the kiteproshop.com kitebar-system for rotation with leash. I just love having a leash all the time but still can rotate, and all lines will be 100% correct after the rotations!
I'm always shackled in and don't want to do unhooked tricks.

Boards:
I ride the new X-Shooter 133. For very light winds I use the 155. But as soon as the 133 goes, I will prefer that, since it easy to switch around and still has a great grip. Practising board offs now, it is light and easy to handle in the air. The 155 has been improved since last year's model. Now it has even more grip and goes upwind better.

I'm involved in the development of the X-Shooter boards.

Toby

Last edited by Toby on Tue Jul 01, 2003 2:24 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Last year I had four kites and 2 boards
12 stock mastair for lightwind, 16 + 12m fuels for 10-25 knots and a Rhino 9.3 for more, all good kites imo
Boards 7' naish skypirate, RRD 170 bidi

I wanted to start/try jumping in less than 10 knots so I modifed the mastair with a pulley bar and UDS bridle so I can power/depower the kite now. I loved it so much I decided to go totally nuts and got a 9.5 psycho for strong wind keeping the modifed 12m mastair for lightwind
This year I have 2 kites and 3 boards
12m modifed mastair
9.5 psycho
147 x 45 lightwind killer custom
147 x 38 wavetray
143 x 34 newind flex control

Now I find I'm on the water more often, jumping sooner and higher in less wind, most of the time I'm upwind and jumping more often than my mates and often I'm the only one doing either. Each kite has more range than any one of last years and I also have more overlap and obviously have to change kites much less.
The planing/not planing, powered/hanging on sessions seems to have dissapeared too.
Last year I appreciated the good aspects of the kites, (the mastair was a lightwind tractor, the fuels had great lift, the Rhino was fast, but also really noticed some things that I saw as limits, couldn't really jump or depower the mastair, the 16m fuel had a pretty limited windrange and turned a bit slow, in strong wind the rhino was too fast), now it doesn't feel like I have any limits like this with my kites.
Pure turbocharged, nitrous oxide, friggin wind machines man
Feels great

Regarding kites for 2003, Cabrinha Blacktips 12 m and 17 m and recently a Co2 9 m (kite number 24!). I still have an ARC 1180 and a Blade II for unusual days on the water and snow (someday?). I was into Airblasts for a couple of years before that and had a blast but have almost sold those off.

Boards seem to stay around longer and come in more slowly. I am not a lightweight at 185 lbs. and 10 kts sustained can be cause for excitement in these lightwind years. Almost all the riding is in open ocean, choppy conditions. So optimizing low end performance is frequenty the goal. I use varied line lengths from 20 to 45 m and a variety of bars including a nice KiteProShop for spinning in control and to help in varied wind conditions. I just picked up a 140 cm Hanacrew Excalibur (board number 12), and have been impressed by the performance of this board even in lighter winds. I also have a Lightwave Designs 181 cm tt board, an asymetrical Stonker Shark and a bunch of directionals. I like to stay upwind even in the lighter winds if possible, so one almost five year old LONG directional seems to get most of the use interestingly enough. I have noticed in marginally powered conditions that I go faster and jump higher with the old directional. Part of this is what I am used to I suspect but part is probably good old physics at work. Now if I weighed 35 lbs. less, different story perhaps.

Rick Iossi

Last edited by RickI on Wed May 14, 2003 10:38 am, edited 1 time in total.